Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge discussed the fact that the band’s papal bloodline has been broken with the arrival of new frontman Cardinal Copia, telling Metal Hammer:
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“I’ve always tried to make things hard for myself. Instead of just doing big, blunt commercial statements, I’m trying to do things in a more cinematic way.
“If we just continued with Papa to Papa to Papa to Papa, that would grow very boring. That is a one-dimensional way of looking at this band.
“If I had just done that, Ghost would have gone on auto-pilot and it would have grown stale very quickly.”
Tobias also talked about how the recent passings of various musical icons impacted him and the band’s music, saying:
“There were a few things that I wanted to get in [upcoming Ghost album] ‘Prequelle’ that I don’t think had been fleshed out yet, and had very little to do with what came before.
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“This is a record themed with death and the impending end – even if it might just be our own – and in recent years we have seen the passing of many of our elder idols. Ronnie James Dio was one, but I think that, especially when Lemmy passed away, and Bowie and Prince so close to that, it affected me a lot. It feels like our parents are passing.
“I think we took people like Lemmy for granted – he was going to sit at our table forever, but now, there is a chair that is loudly empty. It’s definitely affected me way more than I thought it would.
“It’s made me want to be a little bit more attentive when it comes to trying to make sure that you’re making the best of the opportunities that you have with your seniors. That is something that has affected me and this record a lot.”